Windows Workflow Foundation - Workflow Usage Scenarios

Workflow Usage Scenarios

Windows Workflow Foundation is used to create applications that execute an ordered business process, such as the steps needed to approve a document, hire a candidate for a position, or make a purchase. These processes can execute in a short amount of time, but are typically long-running, in which the application will need to shut down to conserve memory between steps. Typically, business processes to be modeled as workflows have the following features:

• Have specific business logic that may need to change periodically, such as the tax or shipping calculation needed to determine the purchase price of an item, or the series of steps needed to approve a purchase, hire, or process.
• Have several inputs into the workflow that may come hours or days apart
• Have advanced business logic that might require workflow execution to travel down different branches depending on different circumstances.
• Need to interact with other systems, such as a database, website or other client application, or web service.